ONE in six areas in England have recorded their worst ever Covid rates on Freedom Day – where does your region stand?
Today’s data shows that Covid hospitalisations have risen by 44 per cent in the last two weeks and that fatalities increased by 19 today.
Data also shows that every local area in England is now recording coronavirus rates above the symbolic level of 100 cases per 100,000 people.
This is the first time this has happened since early January, at the peak of the second wave.
England’s overall rate of new cases currently stands at 425.3 per 100,000 people: the highest since January 19.
AREAS WITH RECORD COVID RATES
Some 50 of the 315 local authority areas across England (16 per cent) are currently recording Covid case rates that are higher than any point since mass testing began.
Eight of these are in north-east England:
- Redcar & Cleveland (1268.0 cases per 100,000 people – the highest anywhere in England)
- Middlesbrough (1,178.9)
- Hartlepool (1,061.3)
- Sunderland (1,036.7)
- Stockton-on-Tees (944.5)
- Darlington (863.3)
- County Durham (783.3)
- Northumberland (674.6)
In neighbouring Yorkshire & the Humber, six areas currently have record rates:
- Doncaster (729.1)
- Wakefield (667.2)
- Leeds (599.4)
- Richmondshire (575.1)
- Hambleton (552.4)
- East Riding of Yorkshire (517.9)
Eight local authority areas in north-west England are also seeing record-high case rates: Blackpool, Chorley, Copeland, Fylde, Rochdale, South Lakeland, Stockport and Wyre.
In south-west England there are 13 areas with rates at a record high: Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, East Devon, Mendip, Mid Devon, North Devon, North Somerset, Plymouth, South Gloucestershire, South Hams, South Somerset, Torbay and Torridge.
There are also 10 in the East Midlands: Bassetlaw, Broxtowe, Derbyshire Dales, Erewash, Gedling, High Peak, Newark & Sherwood, North East Derbyshire, North West Leicestershire and Rushcliffe.
And there are five in the West Midlands: Newcastle-under-Lyme, North Warwickshire, Solihull, Staffordshire Moorlands and Warwick.
Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest updates
The figures have been compiled by the PA news agency, and come on the day that most remaining Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in England were lifted.
The third wave is also having a growing impact on hospitals.
HOSPITAL LATEST
Most regions of England now have more Covid patients in hospital than at any point since mid-to-late March, latest figures show.
Two regions – south-west England and the combined area of north-east England and Yorkshire – are back to levels last seen more than four months ago.
For England as a whole, there are now 3,813 patients in hospital with Covid-19: the highest number since March 24.
The figures, from NHS England, show the growing impact of the third wave of coronavirus on hospital numbers.
However patient levels are still well below the peaks seen during the second wave, because of the massive jab rollout.
NE England
In North-east England and Yorkshire, 850 patients with Covid were in hospital as of 8am on July 19.
This is the highest number for the area since March 17, and is just over a fifth of the number recorded at the peak of the second wave in January.
North-west England currently has 800 Covid patients, the highest since March 19 and just under a fifth of the second-wave peak.
The Midlands has 730 Covid-19 patients, the highest since March 27 and just over a 10th of its second-wave peak.
Other regions have lower number of patients, but all have reported a slow and steady increase in recent weeks.
London
London is the one region where levels have yet to reach those last seen in March, with 647 patients reported for July 19, the highest since April 2.
South-west England has the lowest number of any region, 228, but this is the highest since March 15.
Eastern England has 242 patients while south-east England has 316 – in both regions, the highest number since March 30.
Separate figures show the number of Covid-19 patients in the whole of the UK stood at 4,094 as of July 16: the highest since March 29.
Speaking this evening, Boris Johnson urged Brits to continue getting their vaccines after it was earlier announced that kids over the age of 12 who were vulnerable will get a jab – alongside those on the cusp of turning 18.
Shocking new maps show the Delta variant spread further in just one week before today’s further relaxation of Covid rules.
The maps of England reveal scientists have found the strain which comes from India to be more than 90 per cent dominant in every authority in the country.
Delta was first detected in the UK in mid-April.
